Process of manufacturing sugar



(ModeL) 4'Sheets-Sheet 1 J. L. ALBERGER.

PROCESS OF MANUPAGTURING SUGAR.

No. 247,288. Patented Sept. 20,1881.

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'(ModeL) 4 SheetsSheet 2.

J. L. ALBERGER.

PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING SUGAR.

No. 247,288. Patented Sept. 20,,1881.

W/T/VESSES.

(ModeL) 4 Sheets-Sheet 3.

J. L. ALBERGER.

PROGESS 0P MANUFAGTURING SUGAR.

No. 247,288. Patented Sept. 20,,1881.

(-Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet 4.

J. L. ALBERGER.

PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING SUGAR. No. 247,288. I Patented Sept. 20,1881.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN L. ALBERGER, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK.

PROCESS OF MANUFACTURING SUGAR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 247,288, dated September 20, 1881.

Application filed March 1, 1880. (ModeL) T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN L, ALBERGER, of Bu ffalo, in the county of Erie and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Process of lilanufacturing Sirup and Grape-Sn gar from Corn and other Grain, of which the following is a description in such full, clear, and exact terms as will enable any one skilled in the art or science to which it appertains or with which it is most nearly connected to make and use the same, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon.

By Figure 1 of the drawings is shown a vertical section of what is known in my process as the steamer. By Fig. 2 is shown a vertical section of what is known as the conveiter. By Fig. 8 is shown a side elevation of a filter-press. By Fig. 4c is shown a perspective of a centrifugal and a mixer, both of which are well known in the art. By Fig. 5

is shown a vertical section, and by Fig. 6 a

horizontal section, of a filter, also used in the process hereinafter described.

By the process now in general use of manufacturing glucose or grape-sugar from corn or grain there is a large percentage of loss due to the method of treating the grain, and there are also certain impurities left in thesirup and sugar difficult, if not impossible, to wholly eliminate.

The object of my invention is to obtain from the corn or grain a larger percentage and a finer article of sirup and sugar, and at the same time utilize the refuse by extracting the oil contained in it or by making of it a nutritious food for animals.

In describing the process of m yinvention I will assume the processes now-in common use to be understood.

The first step in my process is preferably to clean the corn and grind it.

The second is preferably to bolt the meal close enough to take out about six pounds of coarse bran to the bushel.

The third is to mash and thoroughly mix the meal in hot water, using about thirty-six gallons of water to one hundred pounds of meal. The fourth is to draw the mash of meal into a steamer, consisting of a tight hollow walled iron or copper vessel or tank, into which steam is admitted through a pipe having one or more branches directly into the mash to cook it, and also into the wall or jacket to maintain the temperature in the tank and avoid condensation. In charging the steamer I fill it about two-thirds full of the mash.

The fifth is to cook the mash in the steamer until the starchy matter of the grain is all converted into a solution of soluble dextrine and water and the albumen and gluten coagulated, the complete conversion of the starch being determined by a microscopic examination of samples taken from the steamer during the operation, or by putting samples of it in a cloth, when, if the conversion is perfected, the starch will strain readily through the cloth. In this step care must be taken to sufficiently cook the meal to obtain acomplete conversion of the starch and to coagulate the gluten and albumen, or they will not separate in the after steps of the process; and, on the other hand, the meal must not be exposed to the beat any longer than is necessary, or the oil and coloringmatter of the grain will be liberated sufiiciently 'to tint the color of the converted starch and impart to it a bitter taste. The cooking in this step of the process may be greatly expedited by creating a steam pressure in the steamer of from thirty-five to fifty pounds. This pressure may not be necessary to the suc= cess of the process, butit is quicker, and therefore, for some reasons, practically better.

The sixth step is to draw the contents of the steamer (the meal-mash) into a mixer inclosed in a steam-jacket, both the mixer and the jacket being provided with suitable steampipes to supply steam and maintain the temperature and fluidity of the mixture.

The seventh is to draw the mash out of the mixer into centrifugals kept hot with a jet of steam or a steam-jacket and rotated at a velocity high enough to throw out the soluble dextrine and liquid, retaining all the solid matter, consisting of the albumen, gluten, &c., of the grain, hereinafter characterized as residuum or refuse. After the converted starch has been thrown outofthe centrifugal, the residuum is washed with hot water, and the washwater is used is making the next mash, by

which all the soluble dextrine or converted starch in the water extracted by the process is obtained and utilized in the production of sugar or sirup.

The eighth step is to put the converted and filtered starch into a suitable vessel strong enough to sustain a steam-pressure of one hundred pounds per square inch and expose it to the action of malt-liquor, in presence of agitation and heat, to the degree hereinafter stated, until saccharification ensues. The malt-liquor is readily made by crushing and scalding malt and straining the liquid out of the husks. The liquor from one bushel of malt will be sufficient to saccharify the starch of ten to fifteen bushels of corn.

The solution of soluble dextrine and water in the converter should have a density of about S of Baum.

By this process the sirup and sugar are produced without alkali, acid, or any chemicals (technically so called) whatever, and by it is obtained a purer sirup or sugar and a much larger yield than by the processes now in general use, the result of the process being about forty-five pounds of sugar or four gallons of sirup of 41 Baum, six pounds of dried feed from the centrifugal,and six pounds of coarse bran from the bolt, from one bushel of Indian corn.

The oil may be extracted from the residuum of the centrifugal by treating it with gasoline, naphtha, ether, or bisulphate of carbon, and by pressing and distilling the product of the treatment, or the residuum may be dried and used for animal food.

I have described the use of the centrifugal as one of the steps in my process for the purpose of separating the dextrine solution from the gluten, albumen, and refuse; but a filter or filter-press may be substituted for the centrifugal without changing the result or in any way affecting the essential principle of the process; and in place of the malt-liquor for saccharifying the filtered solution of converted starch, sulphuric acid may be used, the solution being kept hot in a converter by steam,

' either with or without pressure, (but preferable tinder pressure,) using acid in the proportion of three-fourths of a pound to one hundred pounds of meal, or about that amount of acid to the starch of about three bushels of corn; but if acid be used the saccharified product must be neutralized with carbonate of lime, properly settled, filtered in bags or a filterpress, discolorized with bone-black,and boiled in a vacuum-pan to the desired consistency.

I am aware that the bolted meal has been treated with acid in a steam-tight vessel under high pressure for the purpose of converting the starch into soluble dextrine, and to saccharifyit before separating it from the gluten, albumen, and residuum; but that treatment is very objectionable, because the acid under the influence of the high heat due to the pressure necessary to convert the starch into soluble dextrine acts upon the oil and coloring-matter in the residuum, making it soluble in the saccharified sirup, and leaving, after the most careful manipulation, an unpleasant odor in the sirup or sugar, besides tinging the .color and unfitting it for. various important uses in the arts. This treatment is also objectionable on account of the difficulty of separating the saccharified matter from the gluten, albumen, and residuum. The yield of sugar is not so large, it is not so pure, andthe residuum, which by my process is valuable for animal food, is in this wasted.

Before describing the apparatus I prefer to use in the practice of my process, I observe that it is not material to the process whether the grain (corn) is ground or broken before or after it is soaked, or Whether the mash is made in a separate vessel before it goes to the steamer. The process relates more especially to the conversion of the starch, the filtration of the converted solution, and its saccharification after filtration,and not to the mechanical treatment of the grain.

The apparatus adapted to be used in the practice of my process is illustrated by the drawings. The mill and bolting apparatus, being of the ordinary construction, are omitted.

The steamer is shown by Fig. 1. It consists of a cylindrical vessel, A, inclosed in a double wall or steam-jacket, B. Steam is admitted into the vessel by a pipe, 0, and into the wall or jacket by a branch pipe, D. The water of condensation is drawn out of the jacket by a pipe, E, and the air by a pipe and cook, I. The pressure in the tank is measured by a gage, H. The steam is blown out by a pipe and cock, G, and samples for testing the progress of the process are drawn out through the pipe and cook F. The pipe 0 terminates in the bottom of the tank in perforated branches or a perforated coil. top with alarge cock, I, through which it is charged, and at the bottom with a large cock, K, through which it is discharged of its contents. The tank in which the mash is prepared is shown byJ. Its bottom is fitted with alarger pipe and cock leading to the steamer.

The drawings show the steamer arranged vertically; but it may be longitudinally arranged and hung on trunnions and fitted with internal ribs, so as to rotate and agitate the material.

A mixer is shown by A, Fig. 4 of the drawings. It is the same as the ordinary mixer used in sugar-houses in connection with centrifugals. It is in this case a double-walled vessel, somewhat in the form of a tray, fitted with a stirrer, (not shown in the drawings,) to agitate the mash, keep it in motion, and maintain its temperature as it goes into the cen- The tank is fitted at its trifugal or filter, by which the soluble dextrine T' &c., may be drawn directly from the steamer into the centrifugal or filter-press, as the case may be.

The centrifugal is shown in the drawings by B, Fig. 4. It is of the ordinary construction, fitted with the necessary steam pipe or jacket to keep it hot, and a receiver and pipe to carry and receive the mash-water from theresiduum after the heavy starch has been thrown out.

As a substitute for the centrifugal, the filter shown by Figs. 5 and 6 of the drawings may be used, or it may be used in connection with the centrifugal. It consists of the cylindrical vessel having double side walls, a a and b b, composed of wire-gauze, or perforated plates, between which is inserted any good filtering cloth or substance, 0, the wire-gauze and cloth being supported by rods 1 Z Z, &c., around the surface of the cylinder. The rods setin a bedplate, 9, and support a top plate, h, upon a ring, is, between which and the top plate the wiregauze and filtering-cloth are secured at the top, the same being secured at the bottom between the plate g and the ringsfn in the manner shown. In the bottom plate, g, a large hole is made for the discharge of the refuse. This hole is closed with a plate, 0, held in position by a screw passing through a bracket, 0 e. In this vessel a flexible bag, m, is placed having a capacity equal to, or nearly equal to, the cylinder. This bag should be made of india-rubber or some other flexible material impervious to water.

The filter is operated by filling it with the matter to be filtered through the pipe 7', by then closing the cock in that pipe, and by then pumping water into the bag through the pipe t', thus expanding the bag and forcing the filtrate through the cloth and wire-gauze.

As a substitutefor the contrifugalor filter above described there may be used a press or squeezer, such as is illustrated by Fig. 3 of the drawings. The mash in this case comes hot from the converter into the hopper A, thence passes upon a wet belt, B, and between rollers I I, by which'the liquid starch is squeezed out and the residuum is scraped-oft by a scraper, S, into a cistern (not shown by the drawings) with hot water, and from thence again through the squeezer or press, the wash-water from this cistern being used to make the succeeding mash in the steamer.

, By Fig. 2 of the drawings is shown a converter, into which the solution of converted starch, dextrine, and water passes directly from the centrifugal or filter-press. This vessel consists of an iron orcopper tank or boiler, cylindrical in form, and of sutficient strength to support a steam-pressure of ninety or one hundred pounds per square inch and inside of it is placed a second vessel, M, of lead, wood, or copper, arranged to leave a vacant space, N, between it and the main tank of about two inches wide, the inside tank, M, reaching up to within about three inches of the cover of the outside one, so that steam admitted to the inside of the inner tank will have free access to the space between the two and against acid, as above described, under steam-pressure of twenty-five pounds for sirup, and of ninety pounds for sugar, until saccha'rification ensues, which will not occupy more than, say, thirty minutes. As soon as the saccharification is complete the sweet sirup is drawn out of the converterand neutralized, (in case acidisused,) filtered in a bag or filter-press, then through bone-black, and then boiled down in thevacuum-pan to the proper consistency. The product is a pure white sugar or sirup entirely free from. any oil, sulpho-oil, or alkaline trace, compound, or flavor.

It is wellknown that the starch globules con tain oil besides what is contained in the other parts of the grain. From this oil, which is exposed to the action of alkali and acid in the present process of manufacturing glucose or grape-sugar, there results various compounds of unpleasant taste and odors very difficult to get rid of. Grape-sugar as at present produced contains so much of these impurities as to prevent its use for sweetening beer, wine, or cider, and for manyother purposes. By my process this objection is entirely overcome, and is one of its important and distinctive features. Another advantage and distinctive feature of my process is the coagulation of the albumen and gluten by the heatof the steamer, so that in straining out the converted starch these valuable constituents of the grain are retained in the strainer and saved for various useful purposes.

It is of course obvious that the first steps of my process are as well adapted for the manufacture of starch for domestic use as for use in the manufacture of sugar, the process in that case of course stopping short of the conversion of the starch and the saccharification of the converted solution.

On April, 25, 1876, a patent was granted to Julius DHeureuse for his improvement in treating and mashing corn and other grain, in which there isa process described that approximates to one of the steps of my process, but

does not embrace or include the whole nor the essential parts of my process.

The process of Julius DHeureuse consists, first, of disintegrating the grain under steampressure and agitation in a steam-tight tank for the purpose of loosening the bulls from the grain and making a pasty mass of it; second, of drawing this pasty mass out of the tank through a strainer into the mash'tun for the purpose of separating or straining out the hulls and coarse .nndissolved parts of'the grain; third, of adding malt-liquor to the pasty mass in the mash-tun for the purpose of saccharifying the converted starch before separating it from the gluten, albumen, and other refuse of the grain. Here the process of DHeureuse stops. He does not propose or suggest the cooking of the grain until the conversion ot'the starch and the coagulation of the gluten and albumen ensue, and the filtration of the latter from the converted starch before saccharification for the purpose of separating all foreign matter from the soluble dextrine or converted starch, eliminating the levulose, and leaving only the converted starch to be acted upon by the saccharifying agent. The process of DHeureuse does notcontemplate the making of a fixed, clear, and pure solution of soluble dextrine, filtered from all foreign matter before saccharification. He saccharifies in the mashtun upon his fine pasty mass of starch, dextrine, gluten, albumen, and fine refuse, all of which he says may be dried for subsequent use.

Now, it will be observed that my process of manufacturing glucose differs from-this and all others in these essential particulars, viz: first the starch of the grain or meal is first converted into soluble dextrine by the heat of the water and steam, wholly without the aid ofany chemicals whatever, and at the same time and by the same means the albumen and gluten of the grain are coagulated, leaving the converted starch and water free and in good condition to run freely through the filter or centrifugal; second, after the conversion of the starch and the coagulation of the albumen and gluten'the soluble dextrine solution is separated (filtered) from the gluten, albumen, and husk of the grain before saccharifieation, thus obtaining a solution of soluble dextrine (converted starch) and water only in the converter to be acted upon by the malt-liquor or acid and steamheat. By these means theoil, gluten, albumen, and refuse of the grain are eliminated before saccharification, and are not, therefore, acted upon by the acid, malt-liquor, and steam-heat, so that the bad flavor and odor of these foreign substances in the sugar or sirup is avoided, and by filtering before saccharification the solution of converted starch separates (filters) more readily and cleanly from the refuse than the sirup does after saccharification, the process thus yielding more sugar of better quality than any other process of which I have any knowledge.

Having thus described my invention, I

claim V 1. Manufacturing glucose from grain by the following process, viz: first, treating the grain or meal in hot water and steam only until all its starch is converted into a solution of soluble dextrine and water and its gluten and albumen coagulated second, separating the solution of converted starch and water from the coagulated albumen, gluten, and refuse of the grain by filtration or straining; third, saccharifying the converted starch after its separation by filtration by means of acid or malt-liquor and steam-heat, substantially in the manner described, for the purpose specified.

2. In the process of manufacturing glucose from grain, washing the converted starch out of the centrifugal or filter with hot water, and using the said wash-Water in preparing the succeeding mash in the steamer.

JOHN L. ALBERGER.

Witnesses:

AMos BROADNAX, HENRY O. HUDsoN. 

